Target Bronx NY - Black Friday, 12:27am

The lead-in to this Black Friday nonsense has really been on my mind for many days now. It began, I'd say, with the Target advertisements saying they were going to open at midnight on the night after Thanksgiving. Toys 'R Us beat them to the punch by opening up at 9pm; Wal-Mart did Target one better by staying open all day on Thanksgiving.

But Target was where I first began thinking of this Black Friday melee and Target is actually the closest retailer to my home. My wife and I have walked the mile or so up Broadway and across the bridge to go shopping at Target many times before. After our Thanking holiday at my uncles, I figured we could go check out the holiday shopping melee at the Target on 225^th Street in the Bronx and laugh and laugh.

As my wife and I approached the store, there was a measured calm. It didn't feel like there was going to be all that much going on. My wife and I were even under the illusion that we would be allowed to breeze right in and do some shopping ourselves. At the very least I thought we'd be able to hop in for a few minutes and marvel at the insanity.

As we made the turn down 225^th Street the activity in front of Target appeared active; but there usually was some activity in front of the shop. Anyway many of the other retailers who I had figured would capitalize on this midnight opening; Starbucks and Applebee's at the very least; were still closed. Maybe this Target event wasn't really much of an event at all.

As we neared the store my wife muttered under her breath; "Is that a line?"

'No!' I thought; there couldn't be a line; could there? We made the move to the front of the Target and there were many gathered around the front entrance. I approached a Loss Services team member from Target who stood at the front of the shop to ask him what was going on. The team member told me I would be waiting at least 2 hours. I looked inside and clearly saw people shopping. When I asked him why we had to wait, he motioned to his right.

All the way up the sidewalk were reams of hundreds of people, held back and grouped off into clusters by barricades. I hadn't noticed these people upon first glance.

As I walked back and back and back; I saw that there were several groups of people separated by barricades which snaked around the building and back up to the parking garage level above. Midway at the garage level I noticed another steady stream of people walking down to get onto the lines to get into the groups to be let into the store; it was truly stunning. I stood where I was for a good four or five minutes and just kept seeing people pile up into these groups. Where they were coming from was still unclear.

I slowly backed away and my wife and I agreed that we had better things to be doing than standing around on lines for any length of time.

The Black Friday sales at Target all over the country likely were as crazy a place to be as the Target in the Bronx. Still, one can't help but wonder; what is all of this worth? A few measly percentage points in savings? And if we begin the shopping earlier and earlier every year; what is separating the special holiday sales from any other sale any other time of the year?

40 W 225^th St Bronx, NY 10463. 718-733-7199.